OSSE Evaluation of a Hyperspectral Sounder and its Potential Impact on Hurricane Prediction

A system for performing regional Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs) has been developed at NOAA/AOML's Hurricane Research Division to assess the impact of potential observing systems on hurricane track and intensity forecasts and analyses. One proposed observing system is the Airborne Research Interferometer Evaluation System (ARIES), a hyperspectral sensor. Retrievals from ARIES were simulated from a regional WRF ARW Nature Run (Nolan et al., 2013) spanning 13 days, covering the life cycle of a rapidly intensifying Atlantic tropical cyclone. The observations were simulated in a variety of ways, testing polar orbiting versus geostationary orbits at different observation intervals and resolutions. Our goal in this report is to demonstrate the sensitivity of the different sets of retrievals in our HWRF and GSI based regional OSSE system.